Good government, democratisation and traditional African political philosophy: The example of the Kanyok of the Congo

Journal of Modern African Studies

Volumn 36, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 483-507

  Yoder, John ^a,b  

^a Whitworth College   (United States)

^b DAYSTAR UNIVERSITY   (Kenya)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0007987997     PISSN: 0022278X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0022278X9800281X     Document Type: Article

References (63)

1. For a review of some of the most important literature see Pearl T. Robinson, 'Democratization: understanding the relationship between regime change and the culture of politics,' African Studies Review 33, 1 (1994), pp. 36-67. See also, Gerardo L. Mauck, 'Democratic transitions in comparative perspective,' World Politics (April 1994), pp. 355-75, and David Beetham, 'Problems of democratic consolidation', in Paul Gifford (ed.), The Christian Churches and the Democratisation of Africa (Leiden, 1995), pp. 61-73. For a good example of how religious values affect political behaviour, both at the popular and at the regime level, see Austin Metumara Ahanotu (ed.), Religion, State and Society in Contemporary Africa: Nigeria, Sudan, South Africa, Zaire and Mozambique (Washington, DC, 1992).
2. For a review of some of the most important literature see Pearl T. Robinson, 'Democratization: understanding the relationship between regime change and the culture of politics,' African Studies Review 33, 1 (1994), pp. 36-67. See also, Gerardo L. Mauck, 'Democratic transitions in comparative perspective,' World Politics (April 1994), pp. 355-75, and David Beetham, 'Problems of democratic consolidation', in Paul Gifford (ed.), The Christian Churches and the Democratisation of Africa (Leiden, 1995), pp. 61-73. For a good example of how religious values affect political behaviour, both at the popular and at the regime level, see Austin Metumara Ahanotu (ed.), Religion, State and Society in Contemporary Africa: Nigeria, Sudan, South Africa, Zaire and Mozambique (Washington, DC, 1992).
3. For a review of some of the most important literature see Pearl T. Robinson, 'Democratization: understanding the relationship between regime change and the culture of politics,' African Studies Review 33, 1 (1994), pp. 36-67. See also, Gerardo L. Mauck, 'Democratic transitions in comparative perspective,' World Politics (April 1994), pp. 355-75, and David Beetham, 'Problems of democratic consolidation', in Paul Gifford (ed.), The Christian Churches and the Democratisation of Africa (Leiden, 1995), pp. 61-73. For a good example of how religious values affect political behaviour, both at the popular and at the regime level, see Austin Metumara Ahanotu (ed.), Religion, State and Society in Contemporary Africa: Nigeria, Sudan, South Africa, Zaire and Mozambique (Washington, DC, 1992).
4. For a review of some of the most important literature see Pearl T. Robinson, 'Democratization: understanding the relationship between regime change and the culture of politics,' African Studies Review 33, 1 (1994), pp. 36-67. See also, Gerardo L. Mauck, 'Democratic transitions in comparative perspective,' World Politics (April 1994), pp. 355-75, and David Beetham, 'Problems of democratic consolidation', in Paul Gifford (ed.), The Christian Churches and the Democratisation of Africa (Leiden, 1995), pp. 61-73. For a good example of how religious values affect political behaviour, both at the popular and at the regime level, see Austin Metumara Ahanotu (ed.), Religion, State and Society in Contemporary Africa: Nigeria, Sudan, South Africa, Zaire and Mozambique (Washington, DC, 1992).
5. Naomi Chazan, 'Between liberalism and statism: African political cultures and democracy', in Larry Diamond (ed.), Political Culture and Democracy in Developing Countries (Boulder, CO, 1994), p. 60.
6. Chazan, 'Between liberalism and statism', p. 94, fns 82 and 83.
7. Ibid., pp. 82-3.
8. Pierre Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice (1977), Cited in Robinson, 'Democratization', P. 52. The relation between popular values and political thought and behaviour at the elite level is not a new topic. Both Max Weber and Antionio Gramsci wrote about these linkages.
9. Pierre Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice (1977), Cited in Robinson, 'Democratization', P. 52. The relation between popular values and political thought and behaviour at the elite level is not a new topic. Both Max Weber and Antionio Gramsci wrote about these linkages.
10. Bourdieu, Outline, p. 74, cited in Robinson, 'Democratization', pp. 52-3.
11. Bourdieu, Outline, p. 74, cited in Robinson, 'Democratization', pp. 52-3.
12. Diamond, Political Culture, p. 9.
13. Ibid., p. 246.
14. Gabriel A. Almond and Sidney Verba, The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations (Princeton, 1963).
15. Although scholars have not developed a standardised approach to the topic of values, it seems useful to group the values into these three categories. For an excellent review of the various perspectives see 'Introduction: political culture and democracy', in Diamond, Political Culture, ch. 1, pp. 1-27.
16. As Crawford Young notes, the distinctions among family, civil society and the state which seem relatively clear in Western societies may be much more blurred in Africa. Some may argue, in fact, that family and state occupy so much space in African societies that there is little room for civil society. Because this article looks at both civil society and broad political culture, locating the exact boundaries separating the three realms is not critical. See Crawford Young, 'In search of civil society,' in John W. Harbeson, David Rothchild and Naomi Chazan (eds.), Civil Society and the State in Africa (Boulder, CO, 1994), pp. 33-50.
17. Robert Fatton, Jr, 'African in the age of democratization: the civic limitations of civil society', African Studies Review 38, 2 (September 1995), pp. 67-99.
18. Ibid., p. 71.
19. Ibid., p. 72.
20. See for example, Leonardo A. Villalon, 'Sufi rituals as rallies: religious ceremonies in the politics of Senegalese state-society relations', Comparative Politics (July 1994), pp. 415-37. See also William F. S. Miles, 'The rally as ritual: dramaturgical politics in Nigerian Hausaland', Comparative Politics (April 1989), pp. 323-38.
21. See for example, Leonardo A. Villalon, 'Sufi rituals as rallies: religious ceremonies in the politics of Senegalese state-society relations', Comparative Politics (July 1994), pp. 415-37. See also William F. S. Miles, 'The rally as ritual: dramaturgical politics in Nigerian Hausaland', Comparative Politics (April 1989), pp. 323-38.
22. Robinson notes that the cultural scripts that guide political behaviour are embodied in stories, myths, legends, songs and accounts of pivotal historical events, Robinson, 'Democratization', p. 53.
23. Pierre Petit, 'The nature of power among the Luba of Katanga (Congo R.D.C.)', paper presented at the 1997 African Studies Association Annual Meeting in Columbus, Ohio.
24. The only two scholarly studies of the Kanyok are Patrick Wymeersch, Les Bin Kanyok, culture et traditions (Rép. du Zair̈e), (Bandundu, Zaïre, 1983); and John C. Yoder, The Kanyok of Zaire, An Institutional and Ideological History to 1895 (Cambridge, 1992). Both works are based on field research conducted in Zaire in the 1970s.
25. The only two scholarly studies of the Kanyok are Patrick Wymeersch, Les Bin Kanyok, culture et traditions (Rép. du Zair̈e), (Bandundu, Zaïre, 1983); and John C. Yoder, The Kanyok of Zaire, An Institutional and Ideological History to 1895 (Cambridge, 1992). Both works are based on field research conducted in Zaire in the 1970s.
26. For the purposes of this article, I use the term 'legend' to describe stories that, although they contain a great deal of imaginary material, are connected to actual historical figures. Myth, on the other hand, is used for narratives that are pure intellectual constructs, much like the parables of the New Testament. At first blush, some myths, such as the story of Luaba described on p. 492, may actually appear to be more believable than many legendary accounts. Often the only way to identify a plausible tale (e.g. an eastern hunter who enters the land and seduces a local princess) as a myth is to discover that the identical literary device is used repeatedly to describe many leaders in different regions and time periods.
27. Yoder, The Kanyok of Zaire, pp. 45-50.
28. Ibid., pp. 38-9.
29. Ibid., p. 45.
30. Ibid., p. 53.
31. Ibid., p. 45.
32. Ibid., pp. 78-9.
33. Ibid., p. 64-5.
34. Ibid., p. 74.
35. The best description of Kanyok installation rituals is contained in Hugo van Beeck's 'Etude sur les notables Kanioka' (1953), Archives du Territoire de Mwena Ditu. See Yoder, The Kanyok of Zaire, pp. 99-100.
36. The best description of Kanyok installation rituals is contained in Hugo van Beeck's 'Etude sur les notables Kanioka' (1953), Archives du Territoire de Mwena Ditu. See Yoder, The Kanyok of Zaire, pp. 99-100.
37. Yoder, The Kanyok of Zaire, p. 99.
38. Ibid., p. 100.
39. Ibid., p. 99.
40. Ibid., p. 100.
41. For example, see Glen Tinder, Political Thinking, The Perennial Questions (Boston, 1979) or Alan Gewirth, Political Philosophy (New York, 1989).
42. For example, see Glen Tinder, Political Thinking, The Perennial Questions (Boston, 1979) or Alan Gewirth, Political Philosophy (New York, 1989).
43. The claim about Luaba's name would be conceptually parallel to saying that George Washington's nickname was Pork Barrel.
44. Yoder, The Kanyok of Zaire, ch. 3, 'New legends for new leaders', pp. 29-50.
45. Ibid., pp. 107-9.
46. Ibid., pp. 69-77.
47. Ibid., p. 96.
48. Wymeersch, Les Bin Kanyok, p. 42.
49. Yoder, The Kanyok of Zaïre, pp. 36-7.
50. Ibid., pp. 35-6.
51. Ibid., pp. 58-60.
52. Ibid., pp. 132-3.
53. Ibid., pp. 24, 56.
54. Luc de Heusch, The Drunken King, or, The Origin of the State (Bloomington, CO, 1982).
55. For a discussion of the notions of positive and negative rights see Isaiah Berlin, Two Concepts of Liberty (Oxford, 1958).
56. Yoder, The Kanyok of Zaire, p. 68.
57. Ibid., pp. 72-3.
58. See above, Section (3) Security or Convenience.
59. Yoder, The Kanyok of Zaïre, p. 41.
60. Nehemia Levtzion observed that Western and Kanyok mores about the link between power and wealth are reversed. In the West, using personal wealth to purchase political office (witness the extremely high cost of gaining elected office) is considered moral and normal but using public office to generate and distribute personal wealth is condemned as illegal. The Kanyok, on the other hand, claim they do not use personal wealth to gain political power, but they see no wrong in using political power to generate and distribute personal wealth. Comments at the African Studies Association Meeting, Toronto, November 1994.
61. Even the most optimistic assessments of Africa's progress towards democracy admit that Africa's democracies are at best fragile and superficial. For example, see Larry Diamond, 'Democracy: the second liberation', Africa Report 37, 6 (1992), pp. 38-41. Since Diamond wrote his essay in 1992, the mood has become even more pessimistic.
62. George B. N. Ayittey, 'Indigenous African political institutions', in Ayittey, Africa Betrayed (New York, 1992), ch. 3, pp. 37-77. From a very different perspective, Marxists or socialists have long claimed that traditional African political patterns and ideas were compatible with modern socialism or communism.
63. Michael Schatzberg, The Dialectics of Oppression in Zaire (Bloomington, 1988).